THE FAITH THAT WORKS-- Part 2

In the part 1 of this series, we showed that during the new birth, God gives us the measure of faith (Romans 12:3) not"a measure".

we also proved that once we receive that supernatural faith  from God,  that faith does not leave us, that faith becomes a permanent part of our born-again spirits. We concluded by saying that there is no lack of faith within any true Christian. There is just a lack of knowing and using what God has already given us.

In this second part of our study, we are going to see how to live by that faith, how to maximize it by studying the characteristics of that faith.

But before we do that, let's look at what L's written in Galatians 2:16,20  "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."

Concerning Galatians 2:16,20, the famous theologian Dr R.T. Kendal has this to say and I very much agree with him: "the old King James Version – how I thank God for it or I may never have come to see the truth of this blog – carefully and literally translates pistis christou as “faith of Christ” (as in Galatians 2:16, 20). Or pisteos Ieesou Christou as “faith of Jesus Christ” (Romans 3:22). The grammatical issue is whether it is the subjective genitive – Jesus’ own faith – or the objective genitive – faith in Christ. All modern versions sadly translate pistis christou as faith in Christ. As a consequence, virtually a whole generation has missed what I believe is a most fundamental issue when it comes to justification by faith alone."<https://rtkendallministries.com/the-faith-of-christ>

The lesson to get from this passage is that we are not just justified by the faith of jesus christ, we are also to live by that same faith. That is what our Lord Jesus Christ was telling us in Luke 17:5-10 when the disciples asked him to increase their faith. He had to illustrate His answer with the story of a man and his servant. Through this story, Jesus was recommending us to always make use of our faith. The faith given to us is to be used at all occasions. The more we use it, the better we will become at using it.

Characteristics Of The Faith Of God

Mark 11:23-26 BBE "And Jesus, answering, said to them, Have God's faith. 23  Truly I say to you, Whoever says to this mountain, Be taken up and be put into the sea; and has no doubt in his heart, but has faith that what he says will come about, he will have what he says. 24  For this reason I say to you, Whatever you make a request for in prayer, have faith that it has been given to you, and you will have it.  25,26  And whenever you make a prayer, let there be forgiveness in your hearts, if you have anything against anyone; so that you may have forgiveness for your sins from your Father who is in heaven." 

Here Jesus is telling us to have God kind of faith and then He went on to tell us the characteristics of that type of faith. THE PART 1 of this topic had shown us that we already have God's faith through our faith in Jesus Christ. Now let's now see the features of that faith:

          1.--It is a speaking faith ( v23)

2Corithians 4:13  We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak;

Hebrews 13:5 ".... for he has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you... So that we may boldly say...."

         2.--It addresses specific things (this mountain v23)

  

          3.--It believes what it says and refuses to doubt (v23)

          4.--It believes and take hold of the invisible (v24)

 That was the type of faith or father Abraham demonstrated. This faith is illustrated in Romans 4:17 "(As it is written, I have made you a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead, and calls those things which are not as though they were.

          5. It forgives in the heart (v25)

the more you know about faith and how it works, the better it will work for you. If all you knew was that you have the same faith Jesus has, then that would remove hopelessness and motivate you. People would eventually see results if they just kept trying, but they give up easily because they believe they don’t have what it takes. That is not true. The Lord has given us everything we need, including all the faith we need. We just need to acknowledge what we have and begin to learn the laws that govern the operation of God’s faith. 

Remain blessed

THE FAITH THAT WORKS -Part 1

Our relationship with the Lord is dependent on faith, for without faith it is impossible (not difficult) to please God (Hebrews. 11:6)
Faith is what brings the things God has provided for us from the spiritual realm into the physical realm (Hebrews. 11:1).
Our faith is the victory that enables us to overcome the world (1 John 5:4). For whatever is not of faith is sin (Romans 14:23).
Everything the Lord does for us is accessed through faith for it is written, The just shall live by faith (Romans 1:17).
Everyone has faith since we are created in God's image, but There is a difference between human faith and God's faith.

Human faith is sensual, based on the 5 senses. Human faith can only believe what it can see, taste, hear, smell, or feel; it’s limited to the five senses. Using natural human faith, we can sit in a chair. We drive in cars when we don’t fully understand how they work, and we don’t know the  drivers, but we trust that everything will be okay. We buy and consume foods without knowing who prepared them....That takes human faith, which God gave to every person.

But God's faith is based on His word
When it comes to God, we have to believe things that we cannot see. You have not seen God or the devil. You have not seen heaven or hell. You have not seen sin; therefore, you would not know what you would look like if your sins were taken away. However, you have to believe in all these things to be born again. How can you believe in things you cannot see? The answer is that you cannot believe in invisible things with human faith. You need God’s supernatural faith.

That is why with human faith, you will never dare to sit on a chair whose legs are made of paper, you won't ride in a car whose driver is mental...
At salvation, God gives us the measure of faith (Romans 12:3) not"a measure"

In the following Passages, Matthew 23:32; Romans 12:3; Ephesians 4:7; Ephesians 4:13; Ephesians 4:16, the same Greek word is used for the expression "the measure".

Once we receive God’s supernatural faith at salvation, it doesn’t leave us. Galatians 5:22-23 says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, FAITH, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law” (emphasis mine). Faith becomes a permanent part of our born-again spirits. The truth is, it is always present. There is no lack of faith within any true Christian. There is just a lack of knowing and using what God has already given us.

We sometimes use the God kind of faith that is present in our spirits and other times we don’t. That is why I  believe Jesus told the disciples the parable of the master and his servant in Luke 17:5-9 when the disciples asked Jesus to increase their faith.

To further buttress this topic, we'll use the following passage to illustrate it.
2Peter 1:1 From: Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus, the Messiah. To: Those who have received faith that is as valuable as ours through the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus the Messiah. 
We can understand the following from this passage:

1. If you are born again, the faith you have, you received it.The verb receive used here is to from the Greek word lagchanō which means to obtain by lot, to receive by divine allotment or by the act of God. Lots of people are trying to believe God with their own strenght and work instead of just putting their trust in what Jesus Christ did for them at the cross.
2. That faith is as valuable as that of the early apostles! If sold at the faith market, it will be bought at the same price, because it is of the same quality, same quantity which means it has the same ability! Waoh! What a merciful and impartial Father we have! So what Peter did with his faith, we can do same because it is of same value, same quality, it has the same potency.
3. The third thing we can get from this passages is that we got that faith through  Jesus' own righteousness, not through your own merit. It  is not based on your own merit or effort, that's why the quality or quantity of that faith has nothing to do with you (what a relief! praise God!) No wonder Ephesians 4:7 called it"a grace"  "a gift of Christ". It is an unmerited favour. What influenced the measure or quality of the faith given to you when you became born again is the finished work of Christ and we know that the Father was well pleased with His son Jesus.

Just like brother Andrew Wommack (www.awmi.net)  will say, a Christian does not havea faith problem, but just a knowledge problem.

The difference between those we sometime erroneously say have a "great faith" and those we think have a "small faith"is just in the use of that same measure of faith given to them by God at salvation. (Hebrews 5:14)

It like two persons using the same phone, the person that to yo took the pain to study the manufacturer manual will surely be the one that will maximize the usage of that phone.

So quit asking God to give you more faith, go to the word of God and learn more how to maximize the faith given to you.

....To be continued